12 June 2009

Law and Magic

Everybody has to be a specialist in something, I suppose. Law and Magic takes the cake for interdisciplinary efforts, although it is really more of a skepticism endeavor than a place to learn the procedures of the Wizengamot or substantive wizarding law.

Honestly, the historical institution of the Witenagemot, from which the Wizengamot derives its name, which was the proto-parliament (really more of a House of Lords, as it was made up of secular aristocrats and religious dignataries) in England before Norman conquest for about four hundred years, is really even more interesting. Like a modern corporate board of directors, the body was mostly consultative, but did approve certain kinds of legislation and played a role in the royal succession process by choosing a successor from within the royal family and in rare instances removing a weak king, similar to that of the extended royal family in modern Saudi Arabia.